Mitarashi Anko
Mitarashi Anko (みたらしアンコ) is a tokubetsu jonin-level kunoichi of Konohagakure. She is also a former student of Orchimaru. Background Anko was once the student of Orchimaru. During the second test of the Chunin Exams, Anko and her teammates confronted Hayate and his teammates. Some time later she, along with nine others, were used by Orochimaru to test the finalised versions of the Curse Seal of Heaven he developed from synthesising the enzymes of Jugo with his own chakra. Of the ten subjects, Anko was the only survivor. This in turn established the one-in-ten survival rate of those who are inflicted with the cursed seal. In the anime, after her ordeal ended while at the Land of the Sea, Anko refused to follow her mentor. Seeing that she is more valuable to him alive for the sake of his research, Orochimaru altered Anko's memory into believing that she was abandoned for not having the ideal drive to fuel the cursed seal. She was found by Konoha ninja soon after and was brought to the village with a grudge on Orochimaru since. Personality Anko is noted to be similar to Uzumaki Naruto, both being loud, stubborn, and prone to acting without thinking. Naruto himself is somewhat unsettled by her because, when he mocked her during their first meeting, her immediate response was to throw a kunai at him and lick the blood from his resulting wound. Despite her personality quirks, Anko has a strong commitment to her village and mission, often choosing to face threats alone in order to buy time for her allies to escape or for backup to arrive. This is particularly true in matters relating to Orochimaru: although she admired him when she was a child and aspired to be like him when she was older, she now believes it is her obligation to use the same jutsu he taught her to bring him to justice. The Third Hokage insists that Anko shouldn't blame herself for anything that Orochimaru does. Appearance Anko has light brown, pupil-less eyes, and black hair which has a blue tint to it, (depicted as violet in the anime) which is styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She is commonly seen wearing a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam, which has a pocket on both sides, and complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs. She wears a dark orange mini-skirt, as well as a forehead protector, a small pendant that looks like a snake fang on a thick cord rather than a chain to prevent it from being easily torn off in combat, a wrist watch, and pale grey shin guards. She also wears a dark blue belt around her waist that connects to her skirt that has an appendage-like sash. The Curse Seal of Heaven, which takes the appearance of three tomoe, was at the back of her neck on the left side before Sasuke removed it with the Evil Release Method. As a child, Anko wore a short-sleeved burgundy T-shirt and khaki shorts, as well as knee-high mesh stockings, white wristbands, black shinobi sandals, and would occasionally wear a beige backpack. When she took the Chūnin Exams, she wore a sleeveless fishnet mesh shirt, dark shorts, along with fishnet armbands that reach to her elbows, and knee-length boots. Abilities As a child, Anko's talent for ninja arts were presumably high, as shown from Orochimaru's initial interest in her, even comparing her abilities to Sasuke. Her training with Orochimaru made her a powerful fighter as she was shown to have very quick reflexes and precise aim. The fact that she was sent to lead the team searching for Kabuto is strongly suggestive of how much Konoha respects her skills. During her brief scuffle with Orochimaru, she was able to outmanoeuvre him several times. She was also able to counter Kabuto's ambush, despite losing to him. In the anime, it was also stated that she had also built up an immunity to poisons due to Orochimaru in a similar manner as what he had done with Sasuke. She has good aim, as she made a perfect Konoha symbol out of dango sticks without looking. Despite never using the Curse Seal of Heaven, Kabuto said she retained some of Orochimaru's chakra because of the mere fact that she was branded with it. It was fully removed when Sasuke used it as a medium to revive Orochimaru's consciousness and body via the Evil Release Method. Snake Techniques Anko knows several forbidden and snake-related techniques taught to her by Orochimaru, the most notable of which is Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique — a murder-suicide technique she attempted to use to eliminate her former sensei in the Forest of Death for the sake of her village. She also has the ability to summon snakes. Then use them for the Hidden Snakes Shadow Hands techniques, and its stronger variant. Nature Transformation In the anime, Anko displayed competent use of nature transformation as she was using a powerful Fire Release technique, the9 Fire Release Dragon Fire Technique. Naruto (Part l) Chunin Exam arc Anko was the proctor for the second exam, which she announced during Ibiki's speech, after she made a rather loud entrance into his class, annoying him since she was early. During the second exam, Izumo,Kotetsu, and Mozuku notified her of three dead Kusagakure ninja. Anko saw that all of their faces had been stolen, and, after she recognised the face-stealing technique, she demanded the Kusa-nin's IDs. After seeing the IDs, Anko realised that the Kusa ninja, who she met earlier, was Orchimaru in disguise. Later, she arrived at a confrontation with Orochimaru, and it was revealed that he used to be her sensei. Orochimaru was able to reawaken her cursed seal during their battle in the Forest of Death, thus incapacitating her with the pain and ending their fight. She then rushed to inform the Third Hokage, and then found by the Anbu. During the preliminaries, she strongly requested to pull Sasuke out of the exams in order to keep the cursed seal under control, but was denied. Feeling guilty that she was unable to kill Orochimaru, she later talked over her encounter with the Third Hokage, but he reassured her that it wasn't her fault that Orochimaru got away. In the Naruto Shippuden anime, she appears briefly in her favourite dumpling restaurant where Naruto asks her about the legacy of the Fourth Hokage, but quickly becomes angry with him when he eats her dumplings without permission and chases him away by throwing dumpling sticks at him like senbon. Invasion of Konoha arc When the Oto and Suna villages invaded Konohagakure, she did not take the front lines, and instead assisted civilian villagers in getting away from harm by evacuating to the Hokage Monument. Anko was later seen attending the Third Hokage's funeral, mourning his death. Search for Tsunade arc In the anime, Anko makes an appearance along with most of the village to watch Tsunade's inauguration as Hokage. Sasuke Retrieval arc In the anime, Anko is seen alongside Ibiki, Tsunade and Genma as Shikamaru is promoted to Chunin. Pre Shippuuden Filler arc In the anime, Anko appears briefly after returning from an escort mission in the Land of Swamps. While Tsunade congratulates Anko on a job well done, she absent-mindedly takes her last dango stick, which irritates Tsunade and frightens Shizune. In the anime, Anko's past was explored somewhat from a nightmare of when she was still Orochimaru's apprentice. She led Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, and Aburame Shino on a mission to protect a shipping convoy in the Land of the Sea, which was the country where she was found after Orochimaru had branded her with his Cursed Seal, and subsequently abandoned her. Because her memories were intentionally erased of the event, she was purposefully sent to the Land of the Sea by Tsunade in order for her to regain her memories of the event. After the mission, Anko found her way back to the place where she received the Cursed Seal and regained her full memory of how she and Orochimaru parted ways. She was glad to discover that she was not tossed away like trash as she first had thought, but chose to leave him herself. She then returned to Konoha with her team, and Isaribi. Naruto Shippuuden (Part ll) Kazekage Rescue arc When Kakashi recalls Jiraiya's warning about Naruto's transformation in the dumpling shop, Anko is seen walking in front of it. Sasuke & Sai arc Anko is also seen during one of Naruto's dreams, he interrupted a number of kunoichi (amongst them was Anko) relaxing in a hot spring while he was peeking. Hidan & Kakuzu arc She later appeared at Sarutobi Asuma's funeral, along with several other characters not present at the funeral in the manga. Itachi Pursuit arc In the anime, after Sasuke absorbed Orochimaru, Anko was shown to be on a mission with Mozuku and Iwashi. Sensing someone behind her, she threw a kunai into a bush and killed a white snake. Knowing that a white snake was Orochimaru's signature, she covered her seal with her hand and looked toward the sky ominously. Also, she was seen in Orochimaru's flashback when he talked of the white snake skin. He offered to teach her about immortality, which she eagerly accepted. Invasion of Pain arc Before Pain attacked, Anko, Sai and Yamato were dispatched to track and locate Kabuto. Anko cautioned the rest of them to not let Kabuto detect them. However, right after discovering his location, Yamato is forced to return to the village, detecting that Naruto had achieved his six tail transformation. Confining the Jinchuriki arc Anko and a restaffed Infiltration and Reconnaissance Party pick up Kabuto's trail again, eventually coming across three dead Takigakure ninja. Examining the damage done to their bodies, Anko concludes that Kabuto has finally gained control over Orochimaru's remains. Although suspicious about why Kabuto is leaving bodies behind for them to follow - fearing a trap - they continue to follow the trail of bodies to the Mountains' Graveyard. There, Anko has Hyuga Tokuma use his Byakugan to examine the area. He informs her that Kabuto is in the company of Uchiha Obito. Believing they have found the Akatsuki base, Anko immediately sends word of their discovery to Konoha, only briefly wondering why Kabuto would lead them there. Fourth Shinobi War arc Anko and her team continue to monitor the Mountains' Graveyard. When Tokuma reports unusual activity, Anko has Muta Aburame scout the area. He reports thousands of living beings moving beneath the ground. With it clear that Akatsuki is mobilising for war, Anko instructs her team to make contact with the Allied Shinobi Forces while she goes after Kabuto. She tries to sneak up on Kabuto and attacks him, but is quickly defeated. Though Tobi ordered him to kill Anko, Kabuto kept her in a comatose state so he can extract the trace amounts of Orochimaru's chakra within her to increase his power and control over the ninja he reincarnated with the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation. Throughout the entirety of the fight between Kabuto and the Uchiha siblings, Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi, Anko remained undisturbed on the floor of the cave. Once Kabuto had been defeated and the Impure World Reincarnation was released, Suigetsu Hōzuki and Jūgo arrived with the latter noticing Anko's body, alerting the others. Jūgo picked up Anko's body, causing Sasuke to notice the cursed seal on her neck. Sasuke then declared that he was going to speak with Orochimaru, the cursed seal having contained a fragment of its creator's mind and saw events unfold through Anko. Once Sasuke used the Evil Releasing Method to revive Orochimaru, Anko's cursed seal was removed in the process. Anko, still unconscious, was left in the cave. Her fate remains unknown. After the war is over, she attended Neji's funeral. :Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream While being informed by Danzo that Sasuke is to become Orchimaru's next vessel, Anko is sent with Hayate, Yugao and Sai to stop Naruto and Shikamaru, even if it means killing them. She and her group sneak out of the village, while unknown to them that Neji spotted them. Once Anko and her group catch up to Naruto and Shikamaru by sending flying Kunai's at them, Naruto tries talking the group out of attacking them, but the group don't listen. Anko goes into battle with Naruto, while Shikamaru battles Yugao. But Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten arrived just in time to help Naruto and Shikamaru fight the ANBU. Realizing the ANBU are trying to kill them, Shikamaru realizes they don't serve under Minato because they would never kill Naruto and Neji says he heard about a separate ANBU faction secretly led by someone else that trains them. This leads to Neji and Shikamaru learning that this secondary ANBU is known as Root. Naruto finally manages to unmask the Root member fighting him, revealing her to be Anko. Anko then manages to cut Naruto's right cheek and licks the blood off his cheek with her tongue, which scares him like crazy. Shikamaru realizes their mission, and has the group flee from the fight and continue pursuing Sasuke. While running away from the ANBU, Lee stays behind to stall all the Root shinobi, but Hayate engages him, allowing the others to continue. Once the ANBU gets closer to them, Tenten stays behind to fight Yugao. Thus Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru continue to give chase, while being followed by Anko and Sai. While finally reaching the tower that Sasuke is at, she and Sai fight Neji while Naruto and Shikamaru run to go into the tower. As she begins her fight with Neji, she reveals that this Sai that is with her is an Ink clone. Sai finally revealed himself using his big ink bird in the sky while trying to stop Naruto and Shikamaru from reaching the tower. As her fight with Neji continues she uses her striking Shadow Snake on Neji, but he uses his Eight Trigrams Technique on her snakes. She then tries to attack Neji from behind him at close ranges but he turns around and strikes her with his Eight Trigrams 64 Palms Technique. Anko then retreats from the battle to meet up with Sai, Hayate and Yugao in order to make sure that Sasuke is with Orochimaru. Epilogue Several years after the Fourth Shinobi War ends, Anko is an instructor at the Ninja Academy. During the entrance ceremony, Moegi and the other instructors were left mortified when Boruto crashed a train into the Hokage Monument. Two weeks later, when the students skipped Shino's class to watch a fight between Yuino Iwabee and Boruto, Anko gave the class a severe scolding afterwards. Later, Anko checked on Shino when he began pouting about how little respect his students seemed to have for him. However Anko sees that Shino getting serious around his students, is a good experience for him to open up more to others. When classes end early because of the Five Kage Summit, she invites Akimichi Chocho to the dango shop to eat some anmitsu. Film Appearances Naruto Shippuuden movie 1 She made a cameo with Kakashi when Konoha received an urgent message from the Land of Demons. She later joins Hatake Kakashi, Tenten, Maito Gai and Umino Iruka in launching a counterattack against Moryo and his stone soldiers to buy time for Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Neji, Haruno Sakura, and Rock Lee, who were protecting Shion, to defeat Mōryō. He was later seen with Kakashi after the stone soldiers retreated. Boruto Naruto Next Generations (Anime) Video Games Mitarashi Anko is a playable character in the following video games: *Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 *Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 3 *Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 4 *Naruto Shinobi Collection *Naruto Shinobi Collection Shippu Ranbu *Naruto Shippuuden Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 *Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! Special *Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 4 *Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 5 *Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 *Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 *Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations *Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution *Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3 In the Ultimate Ninja games, Anko has the ability to go into Curse Seal Mode instead of Ultimate Mode when facing Orochimaru. In some games, she makes non-playable appearances as a background character, a guide when navigating the main menu and various game modes, a shopkeeper for purchasing unlockable items, or an assist character. Quotes Relationships Uzumaki Naruto Hyuga Hinata Haruno Sakura Uchiha Sasuke Yamanaka Ino Sai Hatake Kakashi Yamato Nara Shikamaru Temari Akimichi Choji Akimichi Chocho Inuzuka Kiba Aburame Shino Hyuga Neji Rock Lee Tenten Maito Gai Umino Iruka Ayame Sarutobi Hiruzen Namikaze Minato Tsunade Shizune Jiraiya Sarutobi Asuma Shiranui Genma Morino Ibiki Gaara Orochimaru Trivia *Anko is Kishimoto's favorite female character, due to her "relationship with Orochimaru". *Anko is quite popular for a side-character. Anko's highest ranking in the Naruto Character Popularity Polls was eleventh place in the first poll, which was right behind Hinata. *Anko" (餡子) is derived from the sweet red bean paste used in popular Japanese sweets such as dango, while her family name comes from mitarashi syrup that is usually goes with dango. *Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Anko show that she was 141 cm at her Chūnin Exams when she was first part of Orochimaru's genin team, 143 cm a year or so later. *In Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Anko was part of Root and was one of its best members. Anko mostly teams up with Uzuki Yugao, Gekko Hayate, and Sai. She mostly wore a mixture of her own clothing and the standard-issue Anbu uniform, including a black hooded cloak and an asymmetrical black and white mask. *In the manga version of Part I, when Anko threw a kunai at Naruto and cut his cheek. She licks the blood directly from Naruto's cheek with her tongue. This little scene is finally shown in the anime for the very first time in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, when Anko does the exact same thing to Naruto but during the Part II timeline. According to the databook(s): *Her birthday is October 24, & her bloodtype is A. *Her Hobby is conducting tea ceremonies. *Anko wishes to fight Orochimaru. *Anko's favorite foods are sweet bean soup & dangos. While her least favorite type of food is spicy-tasting food. *Her favorite phrase is "Calling on" (参上, Sanjō). *Anko has completed 647 official missions in total: 72 D-rank, 86 C-rank, 398 B-rank, 89 A-rank, 2 S-rank. *Anko shares the same English voice Actress as Naruto's mother Uzumak Kushina, Honda Tohru from Fruits Basket, Keiko Yukimura from Yu Yu Hakusho, Kid Trunks from Dragon Ball Z and from Tokine Yukimura from Kekkaishi. Voice Actresses *'Japanese' : Takako Honda *'English' : Julianne Buescher (Chunin Exam arc – Curry of Life arc), Laura Bailey (The rest of Part 1 – Present) all information on Mitarashi Anko is from http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Anko_Mitarashi Gallery